Chapter 6: Preventing and treating disease

Knowledge organiser

Non-specific defences Treating diseases

Non-specific defences of the human body against all pathogens include:
Skin
• physical barrier to infection
• produces antimicrobial secretions
• microorganisms that normally live
on the skin prevent pathogens
growing
Antibiotics Treating viral diseases
Nose Stomach • Antibiotics are medicines that can kill bacteria in • Antibiotics do not affect viruses.
Cilia and mucus trap particles in the air, Produces strong acid the body. • Drugs that kill viruses often damage the body’s
preventing them from entering the lungs. (pH 2) that destroys • Specific bacteria need to be treated by specific tissues.
Trachea and bronchi produce mucus, which pathogens in mucus, food, antibiotics. • Painkillers treat the symptoms of viral diseases but
is moved away from the lungs to the back of and drinks. • Antibiotics have greatly reduced deaths from do not kill pathogens.
the throat by cilia, where it is expelled. infectious bacterial diseases, but antibiotic-resistant
strains of bacteria are emerging.

White blood cells

Discovering and developing new drugs
If a pathogen enters the body, the immune system tries to destroy the pathogen.
The function of white blood cells is to fight pathogens. Plasma Drugs were traditionally extracted from plants and microorganisms, for New drugs are extensively tested
Blood
White blood example and trialled for
There are two main types of white blood cell – lymphocytes and phagocytes. cells and
platelets • the heart drug digitalis comes from foxglove plants • toxicity – is it harmful?
Red blood
cells • the painkiller aspirin originates from willow trees • efficacy – does it work?
• penicillin was discovered by Alexander Fleming from • dose – what amount is safe
Penicillium mould. and effective to give?
Lymphocytes Phagocytes Most modern drugs are now synthesised by chemists in laboratories.
Lymphocytes fight pathogens in two ways: 1 Phagocytes are attracted to areas of infection.
Antitoxins 2 The phagocyte surrounds the pathogen and
Stages of clinical trials
engulfs it.
Lymphocytes produce antitoxins that bind to the toxins produced
by some pathogens (usually bacteria). This neutralises the toxins. 3 Enzymes that digest and destroy the pathogen Pre-clinical trials
are released. Drug is tested in cells, tissues, and live animals.
Antibodies
Lymphocytes produce antibodies that target and help to
destroy specific pathogens by binding to antigens (proteins) on Clinical trials
the pathogens’ surfaces. 1 Healthy volunteers receive very low doses to test whether the drug is safe and effective.
pathogen
2 If safe, larger numbers of healthy volunteers and patients receive the drug to find the optimum dose.
antibody antigen

Peer review
pathogen
phagocyte Before being published, the results of clinical trials will be tested and checked by independent
researchers. This is called peer review.

Double-blind trials
Monoclonal antibodies (HT only) Some clinical trials give some of their patients a placebo drug – one that is known to have no effect.
Monoclonal antibodies are produced by mouse Double-blind trials are when neither the patients nor the doctors know who has been given the real drug
lymphocyte antibody attached lymphocytes which are combined with a tumour cell and who has been given the placebo. This reduces biases in the trial.
to antigen to make a hybridoma cell. These can divide to make an
antibody which can later be cloned and used to treat
diseases such as cancer or used in pregnancy tests.
Vaccinations
Key terms Vaccinations involve injecting small quantities of dead or inactive forms of a pathogen into the body. This
Make sure you can write a definition for these key terms.
stimulates lymphocytes to produce the correct antibodies for that pathogen. If the same pathogen re-enters
antibiotic antibody antigen antitoxin dose double-blind trial efficacy Herd immunity the body, the correct antibodies can be produced quickly to prevent infection. If a large proportion of the
population is vaccinated against a disease, it is less likely to spread. This is called herd immunity.
monoclonal antibodies mucus peer review placebo toxicity vaccination white blood cell
Chapter 6: Preventing and
treating disease
Retrieval questions
Learn the answers to the questions below then cover the answers column
with a piece of paper and write as many as you can. Check and repeat.

B6 questions Answers
• skin
1 hat non-specific systems does the body use to

Put paper here

cilia and mucus in the nose, trachea, and bronchi
prevent pathogens getting into it?
stomach acid

2 phagocytosis, producing antibodies, producing

hat three functions do white blood cells have?
antitoxins
phagocyte is attracted to the area of infection, engulfs a
Put paper here
3 hat happens during phagocytosis?
pathogen, and releases enzymes to digest the pathogen
4 What are antigens? proteins on the surface of a pathogen

5 antibodies have to be the right shape for a pathogen’s

hy are antibodies a specific defence?
unique antigens, so they target a specific pathogen
Put paper here

6 neutralise toxins produced by pathogens by binding

hat is the function of an antitoxin?
to them
7 hat does a vaccine contain? small quantities of a dead or inactive form of a pathogen
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vaccination stimulates the body to produce antibodies

8 How does vaccination protect against a specific against a specific pathogen – if the same pathogen
pathogen? reenters the body, white blood cells rapidly produce the
correct antibodies
when most of a population is vaccinated against a
Put paper here

9 hat is herd immunity?

disease, meaning it is less likely to spread
10 hat is an antibiotic? a drug that kills bacteria but not viruses
11 hat do painkillers do? treat some symptoms of diseases and relieve pain
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hat properties of new drugs are clinical trials

12 toxicity, efficacy, and optimum dose
designed to test?
13 hat happens in the pre-clinical stage of a drug trial? drug is tested on cells, tissues, and live animals
Put paper here

14 medicine with no effect that is given to patients instead

hat is a placebo?
of the real drug in a trial

15 a trial where neither patients nor doctors know who

hat is a double-blind trial?
receives the real drug and who receives the placebo

16 A monoclonal antibody is an antibody produced by a

hat is a monoclonal antibody?
Put paper here

single clone of cells.

17 ive two examples in which monoclonal antibodies

Treating cancer, in pregnancy tests
can be used for.